Sunshine Plaza's highly anticipated redevelopment in Maroochydore has gained final approval to commence construction of the $400 million redevelopment, with works set to expand the retail centre from 73,000 square metres to over 107,000 square metres.
The centre, jointly owned by the Australian Prime Property Fund Retail and managed by Lendlease and The GPT Group, will provide for over 100 new retailers and transform the Sunshine Coast into a leading fashion, leisure and tourist destination.
Nine years after first announcing plans to expand the shopping centre, Lendlease's Head of Retail Gary Horwitz affirmed the developer is thrilled to "capture the community’s desire for a sophisticated experience whilst reflecting the Sunshine Coast’s rich natural beauty and relaxed coastal lifestyle."
“We are proud of our strong history at Sunshine Plaza, having delivered innovative and unique retail experiences which celebrate the outdoor coastal strengths of the region.
“The Centre already achieves solid results, ranking second in Queensland for specialty sales productivity and performs significantly higher than the national benchmark.
“The current performance of Sunshine Plaza indicates a strong demand for an expanded retail offer,” Mr Horwitz said.
Image courtesy of Sunshine Plaza
Lendlease Build will design, project manage and construct the project, utilising their "track record in retail delivery - in particular, extensive experience in managing construction work in live retail environments, allowing retail centres to maintain trade and operate safely."
The Sunshine Plaza redevelopment will will include:
Construction is expected to commence shortly, taking roughly two years to finish before Christmas 2018.
The first stage of works involves the construction of a car park on vacant land behind Toys R Us and construction of the first multi-level car park located at the Kmart entrance. It is estimated the project will generate up to 2,900 jobs during construction and approximately 2,300 additional retail positions upon completion.